How your iPhone could save your life

It’s hard to imagine leaving the house without a cell phone. Most of us feel naked and alone without our phones, disconnected from the world. We feel, in a word, unsafe.

The truth is, your mobile phone can save your life. Driving in remote places, cornered by an attacker, pinned beneath machinery, we can use our phones to reach emergency workers in ways that no other distress signal can. A smartphone can pinpoint exactly where we are located. We can use photos, video calls, and digital “pins” to illustrate the situation.

That’s why it’s vital for you to share the very important information contained in this article with your family members and friends.

Knowing how to use your phone’s safety features is as essential as having a smoke detector in your home. These tools are powerful in an emergency, but they’re useless if you don’t know how they work.

Have Android? Click here for the app you need in an emergency.

For iOS gadgets, Apple has provided built-in emergency SOS and medical data tools that you can utilize to assist you when the unthinkable happens. Here are iPhone settings that may just save your life.

Understand how to make an emergency call on the Apple iPhone.

Emergency SOS is a feature that will call emergency services and notify your personal emergency contacts when you need it.

In the U.S., your iPhone will dial 911 and connect you to an operator. After that call concludes, it will then send a text message to your emergency contacts (unless you choose to cancel). It will send your current location to your contacts and also update them when your location changes.

Even if you keep your iPhone’s location services turned off, the phone will automatically turn it back on during Emergency SOS.

Previous versions of the iPhone (7 and earlier) let you start SOS mode by pressing the side button five times and dragging the bright red slider over to start the call to 911.

While this action still works, there are additional emergency options for the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X.

For Apple’s latest phones, press and hold the side button along with one of the volume buttons until you see the Emergency SOS slider appear on the screen.

Now, you have two options. You can manually move the slider to start the call, or you can continue to hold down the buttons. If you choose this second route, the iPhone will start a countdown and then automatically call emergency services.

This is handy if you’re in a situation where you can’t afford to look down at your phone or if you need to dial 911 discreetly.

Tap here to learn how to listen to police scanners in any neighborhood.

If your situation is resolved, you can open the status bar and choose “Stop sharing emergency location” to end the updates to your contacts. Otherwise, it will keep running for 24 hours.

You can also halt an emergency call if you accidentally pressed the buttons down. Just hit the Stop button and then choose “Stop Calling.”

If you’re worried about accidentally setting off Emergency SOS, you can always disable the Auto Call feature that starts a countdown timer and then automatically dials 911 when you hold the side and volume buttons down. To do this, open Settings, select Emergency SOS and then toggle the Auto Call slider to off. Even if it’s set to off, you can still use the SOS feature by dragging the SOS slider on the screen.

Tap here to learn how America’s Emergency Alert System works.

Be sure to also use its Medical ID. This is where you store information that your doctor needs to know, especially in emergencies. If you have any health ailments or you’re allergic to any medications that emergency responders need to know, you can store it on your Medical ID.

You can list the medications you’re currently taking. You can input your medical history, weight, height, blood type and more.

Do you ever worry about who will notify your family if you’re rushed to the hospital or you’re in an accident? On Medical ID, you can put in the names of your emergency contacts, their phone numbers, and special instructions to call them right away.

Here’s how to use Apple’s Medical ID: Tap on Medical ID >> Edit. Then, and this is really important, turn on Show When Locked. That’ll ensure first responders can see your medical information even when your iPhone screen is locked.

To make an emergency call or to see your Medical ID: Wake up your phone by swiping left to right >> tap Emergency >> make emergency call or tap Medical ID to see the medical information you have stored.

An emergency alert is displayed on an iPhone warning of possible flooding in Phoenix from monsoon storms Aug. 30, 2013.

To add emergency contacts, open the Health app and go to the Medical ID settings. Choose to edit and scroll down for emergency contacts. Here you can add your contacts, whether it is a spouse, a family member, or a trusted friend. Select “Done” in the upper right-hand corner to save your changes.

Don’t wait to set up your Emergency SOS contacts. Do it now, so it’s ready to go when you need it. Hopefully, you won’t ever find yourself in a situation where you have to use Emergency SOS, but it’s good to know it’s available if necessary.